Wednesday, June 23, 2021

Reflection - Number Our Days - Sauntering

Source (book): "Teach Us to Number Our Days", Chapter 11, "Sauntering", Page 59.
By David Roper, Pastor, and regular and popular writer for Our Daily Bread.


I am old and move slowly.
PHOTO: I am old and move slowly.
- Socrates

When I was a much younger man I used to run several miles a day. When my knees gave out I began to walk - first aerobically and then briskly. Now I saunter.

Henry David Thoreau, in an essay on walking, explains the origins of the word "saunter." He says the term comes from the Middle Ages, when wandering pilgrims would beg for alms to finance their journey to la Saint Terre (the Holy Land). Such people became known as "saint-terrers," or "saunterers."

I can't vouch for the etymology (origin and history of words) of the word, and I understand Thoreau's theory is in doubt these days, but I like his explanation better than any I've heard, for I myself am a saunterer, a wandering pilgrim, begging for grace, slowly making my way to the City of God.

Let's hear it for sauntering! My dictionary defines the word as "to wander or walk about idly and in a leisurely or lazy manner; to lounge; to stroll; to loiter." That's me: God's loiterer, in no particular hurry, taking time to see the world around me and sample it along the way.

Very few people saunter these days. Most folks on the green belt here in Boise (where I saunter) are in a hurry - speed-walking, or racing around on mountain bikes, rollerblades, and skateboards. I wonder where they're going, or, as an old song by Alabama, the country group, suggests: "I'm in a Hurry (and Don't Know Why)."

The same can be said for God's people. So many of us seem to be in a hurry to get somewhere, running off to this meeting or that, signing up for one course or another, frantically working out our own salvation, sanctification, and service for God as though everything depends on us. I wish all knew how to saunter.

It's a great art to saunter. And it grows out of the conviction that "all things are of God." (2 Corinthians 5:18 NKJV) [58] Oh, we must pursue God and His will for us with all our heart, but it is rest and peace to know that every aspect of our pilgrimage is in God's hands. He has freed us from past sin and guilt and is presently freeing us from its power. Our destiny is not riding on anything we do or have done or fail to do here on earth. It rests on the work of One who is faithful to the end.

So, "just go for walks" says Thomas Merton, "live in peace, let change come quietly and invisibly on the inside." [59]

I find Merton's words bracing (stimulating). Since God is at work in me and has promised that He will never forsake the work of His hands, I can trust Him to bring completion to the process He has begun. It's been my experience that whatever change takes place in me is fairly slow, occurring in some secret, hidden part of me and often imperceptible (unnoticeable) except in retrospect (reflection). There are even times of failure when I seem to be making no progress at all. I may even revert to old habits of behavior for a season - regressions (movement backward) that make me believe I've slipped back into old patterns of sin. It is good to remind myself in those times that it may be years later that I see what God has been doing. His pace, though inexorably (relentlessly) steady and impossible to stop, is also excruciatingly (agonizingly) slow.

In the meantime, while I saunter toward heaven and home, I can begin to pay attention to those who are in pilgrimage with me. I can take every occasion to listen, to love and to pray, knowing that I don't have to rush about and make things happen. God himself has prepared good works for me to do. (Ephesians 2:10) [60]

Thoreau was not a Christian, as far as I know, but he often wrote with luminous insight. Thus he concludes his essay on sauntering: "So we saunter toward the Holy Land; till one day the sun shall shine more brightly than ever he has done, shall shine into our minds and hearts, and light up our whole lives with a great awakening light, so warm and serene and golden as on a bank-side in autumn."

Thoreau was a wise man - wiser than he knew. Someday soon our "sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings" (Malachi 4:2) [61] and we shall settle into a perfect pace.
Picture posted by Ed Lukas, Pixels on 22 July 2012 - Festival Saunter
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBHZ8EWhU_20N53ZOCRRA6x01tFIHncHJVU_CYzrkTtQmPcFzfnZi6vlmSOkQM5-p6PuO6Dhzap1NSbVwRzGgacyVhZoiMdgOpek1MHE_udjhoerQPPmAJwBZc7DRuYLrLg-t3CvIBHHU/s900/festival-saunter-ed-lukas.jpg
https://images.fineartamerica.com/images-medium-large/festival-saunter-ed-lukas.jpg
https://pixels.com/featured/festival-saunter-ed-lukas.html


I am old and move slowly.
- Socrates

When I was a much younger man I used to run several miles a day. When my knees gave out I began to walk - first aerobically and then briskly. Now I saunter.


When I was a much younger man I used to run several miles a day.
PHOTO: When I was a much younger man I used to run several miles a day. When my knees gave out I began to walk - first aerobically and then briskly. Now I saunter.
Picture posted by President Online
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwKVQRoJ6FiIhjy5-y0xbZEesv4Y-95GA4ug6BlXS7P_VTZM7jnQOpliAOdbvFXvyOf5IcHFIb8_TGyzvaq6PzPWn3rZo1CGpqIgEA4aM6CV7VHUsQP2TvVBzFpp3Kyd9GAqShFF_hMNs/s1600/img_f0bb28c3268355ed6bbdf5702d7f40b83876804.jpg
https://president.ismcdn.jp/mwimgs/f/0/1600wm/img_f0bb28c3268355ed6bbdf5702d7f40b83876804.jpg
https://president.jp/articles/-/29710?page=1


Henry David Thoreau, in an essay on walking, explains the origins of the word "saunter." He says the term comes from the Middle Ages, when wandering pilgrims would beg for alms to finance their journey to la Saint Terre (the Holy Land). Such people became known as "saint-terrers," or "saunterers."

I can't vouch for the etymology (origin and history of words) of the word, and I understand Thoreau's theory is in doubt these days, but I like his explanation better than any I've heard, for I myself am a saunterer, a wandering pilgrim, begging for grace, slowly making my way to the City of God.


I myself am a saunterer, a wandering pilgrim, begging for grace, slowly making my way to the City of God.
PHOTO: I myself am a saunterer, a wandering pilgrim, begging for grace, slowly making my way to the City of God.
Picture posted by Big Spy
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirN-suMnTgOF5c2EP5OqKYfb6A5y6AjqAS9lUYlbGKsTRISyfTj7R5bPW8QTiM-P6wJY9opceKNG_6jBzcAoPSM0RIEi4y-f4yX9nyQVdIQU0_HbVPoSO9oUr_ZEikcUkdUZ8IAd5cWjA/s2048/f6c0f11daef43dbfc5aa5acc5c852ae0.jpg
http://bscdn-idea-global.uncledesk.com/sp_opera/f6c0f11daef43dbfc5aa5acc5c852ae0.jpg
https://bigspy.com/category-ad/reincarnation-ad


Let's hear it for sauntering! My dictionary defines the word as "to wander or walk about idly and in a leisurely or lazy manner; to lounge; to stroll; to loiter." That's me: God's loiterer, in no particular hurry, taking time to see the world around me and sample it along the way.

Very few people saunter these days. Most folks on the green belt here in Boise (where I saunter) are in a hurry - speed-walking, or racing around on mountain bikes, rollerblades, and skateboards. I wonder where they're going, or, as an old song by Alabama, the country group, suggests: "I'm in a Hurry (and Don't Know Why)."


Very few people saunter these days.
PHOTO: Very few people saunter these days. Most folks are in a hurry - speed-walking, or racing around on mountain bikes, rollerblades, and skateboards. An old song by Alabama, the country group, suggests: "I'm in a Hurry (and Don't Know Why)."
Picture saved by Tess Schilke Photography to Friends:)
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDBufOj6v46KJkYUb9I4C0DTmZ9W_pyEclEHwWk_OUUOJlvT9Z6iIwEw9BDQrcbrQYfMQuillJWkTf6gpkwE35dlwI-sBa5X7H49d66pPHc5drdWkOl81TS5gk7AoWjZxwzdqU4YJXObw/s752/c29b5a87fc1e9f28a8b0af906286763e.jpg
https://i.pinimg.com/564x/c2/9b/5a/c29b5a87fc1e9f28a8b0af906286763e.jpg
https://www.pinterest.co.kr/pin/354517801918606414/


The same can be said for God's people. So many of us seem to be in a hurry to get somewhere, running off to this meeting or that, signing up for one course or another, frantically working out our own salvation, sanctification, and service for God as though everything depends on us. I wish all knew how to saunter.


The same can be said for God's people.
PHOTO: The same can be said for God's people. So many of us seem to be in a hurry to get somewhere, running off to this meeting or that, signing up for one course or another, frantically working out our own salvation, sanctification, and service for God as though everything depends on us. I wish all knew how to saunter.
Picture posted by BigSpy
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZg29jDNNraMGXUo-zeCqg12RTCIpcX9dcy1yEPMD6jE12LFgy9Zd9UBBUMiqvbzD56mkJrrHeK74hODiGHWZEQh8dskG5MD3Somg_Yg_5TuuNHGGab1ETJF9bLQ8IuImvwvDKkxn8MD0/s886/8c1031159d029953269aa01663af4cfa.jpg
http://bscdn-idea-global.uncledesk.com/sp_opera/8c1031159d029953269aa01663af4cfa.jpg
https://bigspy.com/category-ad/reincarnation-ad


It's a great art to saunter. And it grows out of the conviction that "all things are of God." (2 Corinthians 5:18 NKJV) [58] Oh, we must pursue God and His will for us with all our heart, but it is rest and peace to know that every aspect of our pilgrimage is in God's hands. He has freed us from past sin and guilt and is presently freeing us from its power. Our destiny is not riding on anything we do or have done or fail to do here on earth. It rests on the work of One who is faithful to the end.


It's a great art to saunter.
PHOTO: It's a great art to saunter. And it grows out of the conviction that "all things are of God." (2 Corinthians 5:18 NKJV) We must pursue God and His will for us with all our heart, but it is rest and peace to know that every aspect of our pilgrimage is in God's hands.
Picture posted by BigSpy
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaLmX7-emrq9CDWkG-qjkSb8vL2vMLvdOKM1GoeimfdepIQDDlJ1JQkvO6poCV-6pq4pKTmsv-Nv_y1MLM_22Kw2nR6P30Nha89UXV4DUoZy3fizoCpZkPsMyWAb54NdyhgtaBpReTsXM/s960/08939e6fa2f1bda4dcbe8561dd960b9a.jpg
http://bscdn-idea-global.uncledesk.com/sp_opera/08939e6fa2f1bda4dcbe8561dd960b9a.jpg
https://bigspy.com/category-ad/reincarnation-ad


He has freed us from past sin and guilt and is presently freeing us from its power.
PHOTO: He has freed us from past sin and guilt and is presently freeing us from its power. Our destiny is not riding on anything we do or have done or fail to do here on earth. It rests on the work of One who is faithful to the end.
Picture posted by BigSpy
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgabeDoj4JBfMVfWSoNkOaNC0XUCJa2_K-idUjIIknRMlb0ichFvCpWQ1zK8PfCQyLd0OKjEsLM5qHUbMXPFncMcheLxjL-o-UG2VQCs_K5GNWogG4vrl_TtzmWzyWJRKEmBHgwvOi8VdQ/s640/7007de79293f30bf4a4964d2cee77c40.jpg
http://bscdn-idea-global.uncledesk.com/sp_opera/7007de79293f30bf4a4964d2cee77c40.jpg
https://bigspy.com/category-ad/reincarnation-ad


So, "just go for walks" says Thomas Merton, "live in peace, let change come quietly and invisibly on the inside." [59]


So, 'just go for walks' says Thomas Merton
PHOTO: So, "just go for walks" says Thomas Merton, "live in peace, let change come quietly and invisibly on the inside."
Picture posted by Pexels,  Pixabay
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2z6SXlZz5JZBpCT1pBY147c6XwzKTFTDWedRthXh5sUs0fPBialmBaR_xbbypIOebNr0yJIOppZMhHYll1Hv1ck4_Zfj-deUDJ_4mqUebZyVZMhWkFtz-d-aLx-9BQAaZ-7tzQ7y6-78/s2048/pexels-photo-264188.jpeg
https://images.pexels.com/photos/264188/pexels-photo-264188.jpeg
https://www.pexels.com/sk-sk/fotka/264188/


I find Merton's words bracing (stimulating). Since God is at work in me and has promised that He will never forsake the work of His hands, I can trust Him to bring completion to the process He has begun. It's been my experience that whatever change takes place in me is fairly slow, occurring in some secret, hidden part of me and often imperceptible (unnoticeable) except in retrospect (reflection). There are even times of failure when I seem to be making no progress at all. I may even revert to old habits of behavior for a season - regressions (movement backward) that make me believe I've slipped back into old patterns of sin. It is good to remind myself in those times that it may be years later that I see what God has been doing. His pace, though inexorably (relentlessly) steady and impossible to stop, is also excruciatingly (agonizingly) slow.


Since God is at work in me and has promised that He will never forsake the work of His hands, I can trust Him to bring completion to the process He has begun.
PHOTO: Since God is at work in me and has promised that He will never forsake the work of His hands, I can trust Him to bring completion to the process He has begun. It's been my experience that whatever change takes place in me is fairly slow, occurring in some secret, hidden part of me and often imperceptible (unnoticeable) except in retrospect (reflection). 
PHOTO: There are even times of failure when I seem to be making no progress at all. I may even revert to old habits of behavior for a season - regressions (movement backward) that make me believe I've slipped back into old patterns of sin. It is good to remind myself in those times that it may be years later that I see what God has been doing. His pace, though inexorably (relentlessly) steady and impossible to stop, is also excruciatingly (agonizingly) slow. 
Picture posted by BigSpy
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXl6eHuz4MG3JAkm3ZOLt9TTWJaURTePx-W5ej4IMIHiekgndct3UU1Hyj5MAl18houmo6E6MkOSNSsDGDJYlL27-2-mXy-QKnoJT9j7wOLC-M_uTEY89IB1z9uAvyTEbWDSodej_Lf0c/s670/0169f3af7bacd103ac4d965b621b9518.jpg
http://bscdn-idea-global.uncledesk.com/sp_opera/0169f3af7bacd103ac4d965b621b9518.jpg
https://bigspy.com/category-ad/reincarnation-ad


In the meantime, while I saunter toward heaven and home, I can begin to pay attention to those who are in pilgrimage with me. I can take every occasion to listen, to love and to pray, knowing that I don't have to rush about and make things happen. God himself has prepared good works for me to do. (Ephesians 2:10) [60]


In the meantime, while I saunter toward heaven and home, I can begin to pay attention to those who are in pilgrimage with me.
PHOTO: In the meantime, while I saunter toward heaven and home, I can begin to pay attention to those who are in pilgrimage with me. I can take every occasion to listen, to love and to pray, knowing that I don't have to rush about and make things happen. God himself has prepared good works for me to do. (Ephesians 2:10)
Picture posted by BigSpy
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig1jk8UJg_y-w9GRz87-skaXkyL1YPyAlI5Q-r-9Zz7AnWQUqtdJsUth54gDt0q4fmHVMqISwHBwDY6FgpniFSmjYDYxBkyKH3kcGNaEBpSsnb9EI4uIWuDo37TDPfaORCZN8su_7PxaA/s900/e7cdf426c4ca65ea7f9d1a8ffa3b9746.jpg
http://bscdn-idea-global.uncledesk.com/sp_opera/e7cdf426c4ca65ea7f9d1a8ffa3b9746.jpg
https://bigspy.com/category-ad/reincarnation-ad


Thoreau was not a Christian, as far as I know, but he often wrote with luminous insight. Thus he concludes his essay on sauntering: "So we saunter toward the Holy Land; till one day the sun shall shine more brightly than ever he has done, shall shine into our minds and hearts, and light up our whole lives with a great awakening light, so warm and serene and golden as on a bank-side in autumn."

Thoreau was a wise man - wiser than he knew. Someday soon our "sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings" (Malachi 4:2) [61] and we shall settle into a perfect pace.


Someday soon our 'sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings' (Malachi 4:2) and we shall settle into a perfect pace.
Dear Lord
PHOTO: "Dear Lord, we are mostly saunterer, a wandering pilgrim, begging for grace, slowly making our way to the City of God. We are God's loiterer, in no particular hurry, taking time to see the world around us and sample it along the way.

However very few people saunter these days. Most are in a hurry - speed-walking, or racing around on mountain bikes, rollerblades, and skateboards. We are hurrying but don’t know why.

The same can be said for God's people. So many of us seem to be in a hurry to get somewhere, running off to this meeting or that, signing up for one course or another, frantically working out our own salvation, sanctification, and service for God as though everything depends on us.

As all things are of God, we must pursue God and His will for us with all our heart, but it is rest and peace to know that every aspect of our pilgrimage is in God's hands. He has freed us from past sin and guilt and is presently freeing us from its power. Our destiny is not riding on anything we do or have done or fail to do here on earth. It rests on the work of One who is faithful to the end.

Lord, help us to just go for walks, and live in peace, let change come quietly and invisibly on the inside.

Since God is at work in me and has promised that He will never forsake the work of His hands, help us to trust Him to bring completion to the process He has begun.

Lord, there are even times of failure when we seem to be making no progress at all. We may even revert to old habits of behaviour for a season - regressions that make us believe we've slipped back into old patterns of sin. Help us to remind ourselves in those times that it may be years later that we see what God has been doing.

We pray that as we saunter toward heaven and home, begin to pay attention to those who are in pilgrimage with us. Help us to take every occasion to listen, to love and to pray, knowing that we don't have to rush about and make things happen. God himself has prepared good works for us to do.

‘So we saunter toward the Holy Land; till one day the sun shall shine more brightly than ever he has done, shall shine into our minds and hearts, and light up our whole lives with a great awakening light, so warm and serene and golden as on a bank-side in autumn.’

May our ‘sun of righteousness rises with healing in its wings’ and we shall settle into a perfect pace.

Through Lord Jesus Christ we pray. Amen!"
Picture posted by Lazada
Reflection - Number Our Days - Sauntering
Source (book): "Teach Us to Number Our Days", Chapter 11, "Sauntering", Page 59.
By David Roper, Pastor, and regular and popular writer for Our Daily Bread.



"Faithful to the end", A Preacher's Exposition of 2 Timothy, @ 2014 by Robert M. Solomon

'Faithful to the end', A Preacher's Exposition of 2 Timothy, @ 2014 by Robert M. Solomon<br>
Reflection - Faithful to the end (Links)
https://veryfatoldman.blogspot.com/2017/06/reflection-faithful-to-end-links.html


"Finding rest for the soul" Responding to Jesus' Invitation in Matthew 11:28-29, © 2016 by Robert M. Solomon

Reflection - Finding rest for the soul (Links)
Reflection - Finding rest for the soul (Links)
https://veryfatoldman.blogspot.com/2018/10/reflection-finding-rest-for-soul-links.html


"God in Pursuit" Lessons from the Book of Jonah, © 2016 by Robert M. Solomon

'Reflection - God in Pursuit (Links) - PART I-III, posted on Saturday, 10 August 2019
Reflection - God in Pursuit (Links) - PART I-III, posted on Saturday, 10 August 2019
https://veryfatoldman.blogspot.com/2019/08/reflection-god-in-pursuit-links-part-i.html


"God in Pursuit" Lessons from the Book of Jonah, © 2016 by Robert M. Solomon

'Reflection - God in Pursuit (Links) - PART IV, posted on Saturday, 10 August 2019
Reflection - God in Pursuit (Links) - PART IV, posted on Saturday, 10 August 2019
https://veryfatoldman.blogspot.com/2019/08/reflection-god-in-pursuit-links-part-iv.html 


"Songs of Christmas", The Stories and Significance of 20 Well-Loved Carols, © 2018 by Robert M. Solomon

Reflection - Songs of Christmas (Links), posted on Friday, 24 April 2020
Reflection - Songs of Christmas (Links), posted on Friday, 24 April 2020
https://veryfatoldman.blogspot.com/2020/04/reflection-songs-of-christmas-links.html
 

"Growing Old Gracefully", Following Jesus to the End, © 2019 by Robert M. Solomon

Reflection - Growing Old Gracefully, Part I - III (Links), posted on Wednesday, 09 December 2020
Reflection - Growing Old Gracefully, Part I - III (Links), posted on Wednesday, 09 December 2020
https://veryfatoldman.blogspot.com/2020/12/reflection-growing-old-gracefully-part.html
 

Reflection - Growing Old Gracefully, Part IV - V (Links), posted on Thursday, 22 April 2021
Reflection - Growing Old Gracefully, Part IV - V (Links), posted on Thursday, 22 April 2021
https://veryfatoldman.blogspot.com/2020/12/reflection-growing-old-gracefully-part_9.html
 
 

Reference
[1] From "Teach Us to Number Our Days", Copyright © 2008 by David Roper, ISBN 978-981-11-7184-0, Chapter 11, "Sauntering", Page 59-62.

[58] See 2 Corinthians 5:18 NKJV.

[59] Thomas Merton, journal, May 30, 1968.

[60] See Ephesians 2:10.

[61] Malachi 4:2


Links


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